小说搜索     点击排行榜   最新入库
首页 » 英文短篇小说 » 午夜的孩子 Midnight's Children » Chapter 3 Hit-the-spittoon
选择底色: 选择字号:【大】【中】【小】
Chapter 3 Hit-the-spittoon
关注小说网官方公众号(noveltingroom),原版名著免费领。

Please believe that I am falling apart.

I am not speaking metaphorically1; nor is this the opening gambit of some melodramatic, riddling2, grubby appeal for pity. I mean quite simply that I have begun to crack all over like an old jug3 - that my poor body, singular, unlovely, buffeted4 by too much history, subjected to drainage above and drainage below, mutilated by doors, brained by spittoons, has started coming apart at the seams.

In short, I am literally5 disintegrating6, slowly for the moment, although there are signs of acceleration7. I ask you only to accept (as I have accepted) that I shall eventually crumble8 into (approximately) six hundred and thirty million particles of anonymous9, and necessarily oblivious10 dust. This is why I have resolved to confide11 in paper, before I forget. (We are a nation of forgetters.)

There are moments of terror, but they go away. Panic like a bubbling sea-beast conies up for air, boils on the surface, but eventually returns to the deep. It is important for me to remain calm. I chew betel-nut and expectorate in the direction of a cheap brassy bowl, playing the ancient game of hit-the-spittoon: Nadir13 Khan's game, which he learned from the old men in Agra... and these days you can buy 'rocket paans' in which, as well as the gum-reddening paste of the betel, the comfort of cocaine14 lies folded in a leaf. But that would be cheating.

... Rising from my pages comes the unmistakable whiff of chutney. So let me obfuscate15 no further: I, Saleem Sinai, possessor of the most delicately-gifted olfactory16 organ in history, have dedicated17 my latter days to the large-scale preparation of condiments18. But now, 'A cook?' you gasp19 in horror, 'A khansama merely? How is it possible?' And, I grant, such mastery of the multiple gifts of cookery and language is rare indeed; yet I possess it. You are amazed; but then I am not, you see, one of your 200-rupees-a-month cookery johnnies, but my own master, working beneath the saffron and green winking21 of my personal neon goddess. And my chutneys and kasaundies are, after all, connected to my nocturnal scribblings - by day amongst the pickle-vats, by night within these sheets, I spend my time at the great work of preserving. Memory, as well as fruit, is being saved from the corruption23 of the clocks.

But here is Padma at my elbow, bullying24 me back into the world of linear narrative25, the universe of what-happened-next: 'At this rate,' Padma complains, 'you'll be two hundred years old before you manage to tell about your birth.'

She is affecting nonchalance26, jutting27 a careless hip28 in my general direction, but doesn't fool me. I know now that she is, despite all her protestations, hooked. No doubt about it: my story has her by the throat, so that all at once she's stopped nagging29 me to go home, to take more baths, to change my vinegar-stained clothes, to abandon even for a moment this darkling pickle-factory where the smells of spices are forever frothing in the air... now my dung goddess simply makes up a cot in the corner of this office and prepares my food on two blackened gas-rings, only interrupting my Anglepoise-lit writing to expostulate, 'You better get a move on or you'll die before you get yourself born.' Fighting down the proper pride of the successful storyteller, I attempt to educate her. 'Things - even people - have a way of leaking into each other,'

I explain, 'like flavours when you cook. Ilse Lubin's suicide, for example, leaked into old Aadam and sat there in a puddle30 until he saw God. Likewise,' I intone earnestly, 'the past has dripped into me .'.. so we can't ignore it...'

Her shrug31, which does pleasantly wavy32 things to her chest, cuts me off. 'To me it's a crazy way of telling your life story,' she cries, 'if you can't even get to where your father met your mother.'

... And certainly Padma is leaking into me. As history pours out of my fissured33 body, my lotus is quietly dripping in, with her down-to-earthery, and her paradoxical superstition34, her contradictory35 love of the fabulous36 - so it's appropriate that I'm about to tell the story of the death of Mian Abdullah. The doomed37 Hummingbird38: a legend of our times.

... And Padma is a generous woman, because she stays by me in these last days, although I can't do much for her. That's right - and once again, it's a fitting thing to mention before I launch into the tale of Nadir Khan - I am unmanned.

Despite Padma's many and varied39 gifts and ministrations, I can't leak into her, not even when she puts her left foot on my right, winds her right leg around my waist, inclines her head up toward mine and makes cooing noises; not even when she whispers in my ear, 'So now that the writery is done, let's see if we can make your other pencil work!'; despite everything she tries, I cannot hit her spittoon.

Enough confessions40. Bowing to the ineluctable Padma-pressures of what-happened-nextism, and remembering the finite quantity of time at my disposal, I leap forwards from Mercurochrome and land in 1942. (I'm keen to get my parents together, too.)

It seems that in the late summer of that year my grandfather, Doctor Aadam Aziz, contracted a highly dangerous form of optimism. Bicycling around Agra, he whistled piercingly, badly, but very happily. He was by no means alone, because, despite strenuous41 efforts by the authorities to stamp it out, this virulent42 disease had been breaking out all over India that year, and drastic steps were to be taken before it was brought under control. The old men at the paan-shop at the top of Cornwallis Road chewed betel and suspected a trick. 'I have lived twice as long as I should have,' the oldest one said, his voice crackling like an old radio because decades were rubbing up against each other around his vocal43 chords, 'and I've never seen so many people so cheerful in such a bad time. It is the devil's work.' It was, indeed, a resilient virus - the weather alone should have discouraged such germs from breeding, since it had become clear that the rains had failed. The earth was cracking. Dust ate the edges of roads, and on some days huge gaping44 fissures45 appeared in the midst of macadamed intersections46. The betel-chewers at the paan-shop had begun to talk about omens47; calming themselves with their game of hit-the-spittoon, they speculated upon the numberless nameless Godknowswhats that might now issue from the Assuring earth.

Apparently48 a Sikh from the bicycle-repair shop had had his turban pushed off his head in the heat of one afternoon, when his hair, without any reason, had suddenly stood on end. And, more prosaically49, the water shortage had reached the point where milkmen could no longer find clean water with which to adulterate the milk :.. Far away, there was a World War in progress once again. In Agra, the heat mounted. But still my grandfather whistled. The old men at the paan-shop found Ms whistling in rather poor taste, given the circumstances.

(And I, like them, expectorate and rise above fissures.)

Astride his bicycle, leather attache attached to carrier, my grandfather wMstled. Despite irritations50 of the nose, his lips pursed. Despite a bruise51 on his chest which had refused to fade for twenty-three years, his good humour was unimpaired. Air passed his lips and was transmuted52 into sound. He whistled an old German tune54: Tannenbaum.

The optimism epidemic55 had been caused by one single human being, whose name, Mian Abdullah, was only used by newspapermen. To everyone else, he was the Hummingbird, a creature which would be impossible if it did not exist. 'Magician turned conjurer,' the newspapermen wrote, 'Mian Abdullah rose from the famous magicians' ghetto56 in Delhi to become the hope of India's hundred million Muslims.' The Hummingbird was the founder57, chairman, unifier58 and moving spirit of the Free Islam Convocation; and in 1942, marquees and rostrums were being erected59 on the Agra maidan, where the Convocation's second annual assembly was about to take place. My grandfather, fifty-two years old, his hair turned white by the years and other afflictions, had begun whistling as he passed the maidan.

Now he leaned round corners on his bicycle, taking them at a jaunty60 angle, threading his way between cowpats and children ... and, in another time and place, told Ms friend the Rani of Cooch Naheen: 'I started off as a Kashmiri and not much of a Muslim. Then I got a bruise on the chest that turned me into an Indian. I'm still not much of a Muslim, but I'm all for Abdullah. He's fighting my fight.' His eyes were still the blue of Kashmiri sky... he arrived home, and although Ms eyes retained a glimmer61 of contentment, the whistling stopped; because waiting for him in the courtyard filled with malevolent62 geese were the disapproving63 features of my grandmama, Naseem Aziz, whom he had made the mistake of loving in fragments, and who was now unified64 and transmuted into the formidable figure she would always remain, and who was always known by the curious title of Reverend Mother.

She had become a prematurely65 old, wide woman, with two enormous moles66 like witch's nipples on her face; and she lived within an invisible fortress67 of her own making, an ironclad citadel68 of traditions and certainties. Earlier that year Aadam Aziz had commissioned life-size blow-up photographs of his family to hang on the living-room wall; the three girls and two boys had posed dutifully enough, but Reverend Mother had rebelled when her turn came. Eventually, the photographer had tried to catch her unawares, but she seized Ms camera and broke it over his skull69. Fortunately, he lived; but there are no photographs of my grandmother anywhere on the earth. She was not one to be trapped in anyone's little black box. It was enough for her that she must live in unveiled, barefaced70 shamelessness - there was no question of allowing the fact to be recorded.

It was perhaps the obligation of facial nudity, coupled with Aziz's constant requests for her to move beneath Mm, that had driven her to the barricades71; and the domestic rules she established were a system of self-defence so impregnable that Aziz, after many fruitless attempts, had more or less given up trying to storm her many ravelins and bastions, leaving her, like a large smug spider, to rule her chosen domain72. (Perhaps, too, it wasn't a system of self-defence at all, but a means of defence against her self.)

Among the things to which she denied entry were all political matters. When Doctor Aziz wished to talk about such things, he visited his friend the Rani, and Reverend Mother sulked; but not very hard, because she knew Ms visits represented a victory for her.

The twin hearts of her kingdom were her kitchen and her pantry. I never entered the former, but remembered staring through the pantry's locked screen-doors at the enigmatic world within, a world of hanging wire baskets covered with linen73 cloths to keep out the flies, of tins wMch I knew to be full of gur and other sweets, of locked chests with neat square labels, of nuts and turnips74 and sacks of grain, of goose-eggs and wooden brooms. Pantry and kitchen were her inalienable territory; and she defended them ferociously75. When she was carrying her last child, my aunt Emerald, her husband offered to relieve her of the chore of supervising the cook. She did not reply; but the next day, when Aziz approached the kitchen, she emerged from it with a metal pot in her hands and barred the doorway76. She was fat and also pregnant, so there was not much room left in the doorway. Aadam Aziz frowned. 'What is this, wife?' To which my grandmother answered, 'This, whatsitsname, is a very heavy pot; and if just once I catch you in here, whatsitsname, I'll push your head into it, add some dahi, and make, whatsitsname, a korma.' I don't know how my grandmother came to adopt the term whatsitsname as her leitmotif, but as the years passed it invaded her sentences more and more often. I like to think of it as an unconscious cry for help ... as a seriously-meant question. Reverend Mother was giving us a hint that, for all her presence and bulk, she was adrift in the universe. She didn't know, you see, what it was called.

... And at the dinner-table, imperiously, she continued to rule. No food was set upon the table, no plates were laid. Curry77 and crockery were marshalled upon a low side-table by her right hand, and Aziz and the cMldren ate what she dished out. It is a sign of the power of this custom that, even when her husband was afflicted78 by constipation, she never once permitted Mm to choose Ms food, and listened to no requests or words of advice. A fortress may not move. Not even when its dependants79' movements become irregular.

During the long concealment81 of Nadir Khan, during the visits to the house on Cornwallis Road of young Zulfikar who fell in love with Emerald and of the prosperous reccine-and-leathercloth merchant named Ahmed Sinai who hurt my aunt Alia so badly that she bore a grudge82 for twenty-five years before discharging it cruelly upon my mother, Reverend Mother's iron grip upon her household never faltered83; and even before Nadir's arrival precipitated84 the great silence, Aadam Aziz had tried to break this grip, and been obliged to go to war with his wife.

(All this helps to show how remarkable85 his affliction by optimism actually was.)

... In 1932, ten years earlier, he had taken control of his children's education. Reverend Mother was dismayed; but it was a father's traditional role, so she could not object. Alia was eleven; the second daughter, Mumtaz, was almost nine. The two boys, Hanif and Mustapha, were eight and six, and young Emerald was not yet five. Reverend Mother took to confiding86 her fears to the family cook, Daoud. 'He fills their heads with I don't know what foreign languages, whatsitsname, and other rubbish also, no doubt.' Daoud stirred pots and Reverend Mother cried, 'Do you wonder, whatsitsname, that the little one calls herself Emerald? In English, whatsitsname? That man will ruin my children for me. Put less cumin in that, whatsitsname, you should pay more attention to your cooking and less to minding other people's business.'

She made only one educational stipulation87: religious instruction. Unlike Aziz, who was racked by ambiguity88, she had remained devout89. 'You have your Hummingbird,' she told him, 'but I, whatsitsname, have the Call of God. A better noise, whatsitsname, than that man's hum.' It was one of her rare political comments ... and then the day arrived when Aziz Arew out the religious tutor.

Thumb and forefinger90 closed around the maulvi's ear. Naseem Aziz saw her husband leading the stragglebearded wretch91 to the door in the garden wall; gasped92; then cried out as her husband's foot was applied93 to the divine's fleshy parts.

Unleashing94 thunderbolts, Reverend Mother sailed into battle.

'Man without dignity!' she cursed her husband, and, 'Man without, whatsitsname, shame!' Children watched from the safety of the back verandah. And Aziz, 'Do you know what that man was teaching your children?' And Reverend Mother hurling95 question against question, 'What will you not do to bring disaster, whatsitsname, on our heads?' -But now Aziz, 'You think it was Nastaliq script?

Eh?' - to which his wife, warming up: 'Would you eat pig? Whatsitsname? Would you spit on the Quran?' And, voice rising, the doctor ripostes, 'Or was it some verses of "The Cow"? You think that?' ... Paying no attention, Reverend Mother arrives at her climax96: 'Would you marry your daughters to Germans!?' And pauses, fighting for breath, letting my grandfather reveal, 'He was teaching them to hate, wife. He tells them to hate Hindus and Buddhists97 and Jains and Sikhs and who knows what other vegetarians98. Will you have hateful children, woman?'

'Will you have godless ones?' Reverend Mother envisages99 the legions of the Archangel Gabriel descending100 at night to carry her heathen brood to hell. She has vivid pictures of hell. It is as hot as Rajputana in June and everyone is made to learn seven foreign languages... 'I take this oath, whatsitsname,' my grandmother said, 'I swear no food will come from my kitchen to your lips! No, not one chapati, until you bring the maulvi sahib back and kiss his, whatsitsname, feet!'

The war of starvation which began that day very nearly became a duel101 to the death. True to her word, Reverend Mother did not hand her husband, at mealtimes, so much as an empty plate. Doctor Aziz took immediate102 reprisals103, by refusing to feed himself when he was out. Day by day the five children watched their father disappearing, while their mother grimly guarded the dishes of food. 'Will you be able to vanish completely?' Emerald asked with interest, adding solicitously104, 'Don't do it unless you know how to come back again.' Aziz's face acquired craters105; even his nose appeared to be getting thinner. His body had become a battlefield and each day a piece of it was blasted away. He told Alia, his eldest106, the wise child: 'In any war, the field of battle suffers worse devastation107 than either army. This is natural.' He began to take rickshaws when he did his rounds. Hamdard the rickshaw-wallah began to worry about him.

The Rani of Cooch Naheen sent emissaries to plead with Reverend Mother. 'India isn't full enough of starving people?' the emissaries asked Naseem, and she unleashed108 a basilisk glare which was already becoming a legend. Hands clasped in her lap, a muslin dupatta wound miser-tight around her head, she pierced her visitors with lidless eyes and stared them down. Their voices turned to stone; their hearts froze; and alone in a room with strange men, my grandmother sat in triumph, surrounded by downcast eyes. 'Full enough, whatsitsname?' she crowed.

'Well, perhaps. But also, perhaps not.'

But the truth was that Naseem Aziz was very anxious; because while Aziz's death by starvation would be a clear demonstration109 of the superiority of her idea of the world over his, she was unwilling110 to be widowed for a mere20 principle; yet she could see no way out of the situation which did not involve her in backing down and losing face, and having learned to bare her face, my grandmother was most reluctant to lose any of it.

'Fall ill, why don't you?' - Alia, the wise child, found the solution. Reverend Mother beat a tactical retreat, announced a pain, a killing111 pain absolutely, whatsitsname, and took to her bed. In her absence Alia extended the olive branch to her father, in the shape of a bowl of chicken soup. Two days later, Reverend Mother rose (having refused to be examined by her husband for the first time in her life), reassumed her powers, and with a shrug of acquiescence112 in her daughter's decision, passed Aziz his food as though it were a mere trifle of a business.

That was ten years earlier; but still, in 1942, the old men at the paan-shop are stirred by the sight of the whistling doctor into giggling113 memories of the time when his wife had nearly made him do a disappearing trick, even though he didn't know how to come back. Late into the evening they nudge each other with, 'Do you remember when -' and 'Dried up like a skeleton on a washing line! He couldn't even ride his -' and '- I tell you, baba, that woman could do terrible things. I heard she could even dream her daughters' dreams, just to know what they were getting up to!' But as evening settles in the nudges die away, because it is time for the contest. Rhythmically114, in silence, their jaws115 move; then all of a sudden there is a pursing of lips, but what emerges is not air-made-sound. No whistle, but instead a long red jet of betel-juice passes decrepit117 lips, and moves in unerring accuracy towards an old brass12 spittoon. There is much slapping of thighs118 and self-admiring utterance119 of 'Wah, wah, sir!' and, 'Absolute master shot!' ... Around the oldsters, the town fades into desultory120 evening pastimes.

Children play hoop121 and kabaddi and draw beards on posters of Mian Abdullah. And now the old men place the spittoon in the street, further and further from their squatting-place, and aim longer and longer jets at it. Still the fluid flies true. 'Oh too good, yara!' The street urchins122 make a game of dodging123 in and out between the red streams, superimposing this game of chicken upon the serious art of hit-the-spittoon ... But here is an army staff car, scattering124 urchins as it comes ... here, Brigadier Dodson, the town's military commander, stifling126 with heat... and here, his A.D.C., Major Zulfikar, passing him a towel. Dodson mops his face; urchins scatter125; the car knocks over the spittoon. A dark red fluid with clots127 in it like blood congeals128 like a red hand in the dust of the street and points accusingly at the retreating power of the Raj.

Memory of a mildewing129 photograph (perhaps the work of the same poor brained photographer whose life-size blow-ups so nearly cost him his life): Aadam Aziz, aglow130 with optimism-fever, shakes hands with a man of sixty or so, an impatient, sprightly131 type with a lock of white hair falling across his brow like a kindly132 scar. It is Mian Abdullah, the Hummingbird. ('You see, Doctor Sahib, I keep myself fit. You wish to hit me in the stomach? Try, try. I'm in tiptop shape.'... In the photograph, folds of a loose white shirt conceal80 the stomach, and my grandfather's fist is not clenched133, but swallowed up by the hand of the ex-conjurer.) And behind them, looking benignly134 on, the Rani of Cooch Naheen, who was going white in blotches135, a disease which leaked into history and erupted on an enormous scale shortly after Independence ... 'I am the victim,' the Rani whispers, through photographed lips that never move, 'the hapless victim of my cross-cultural concerns. My skin is the outward expression of the internationalism of my spirit.' Yes, there is a conversation going on in this photograph, as like expert ventriloquists the optimists136 meet their leader.

Beside the Rani - listen carefully now; history and ancestry137 are about to meet! - stands a peculiar138 fellow, soft and paunchy, his eyes like stagnant139 ponds, his hair long like a poet's. Nadir Khan, the Hummingbird's personal secretary. His feet, if they were not frozen by the snapshot, would be shuffling140 in embarrassment141. He mouths through his foolish, rigid142 smile, 'It's true; I have written verses ...' Whereupon Mian Abdullah interrupts, booming through his open mouth with glints of pointy teeth: 'But what verses! Not one rhyme in page after page!...' And the Rani, gently: 'A modernist, then?' And Nadir, shyly: 'Yes.'

What tensions there are now in the still, immobile scene! What edgy143 banter144, as the Hummingbird speaks: 'Never mind about that; art should uplift; it should remind us of our glorious literary heritage!' ... And is that a shadow, or a frown on his secretary's brow? ... Nadir's voice, issuing lowaslow from the fading picture: 'I do not believe in high art, Mian Sahib. Now art must be beyond categories; my poetry and - oh - the game of hit-the-spittoon are equals.'... So now the Rani, kind woman that she is, jokes, 'Well, I shall set aside a room, perhaps; for paan-eating and spittoon-hittery. I have a superb silver spittoon, inlaid with lapis lazuli, and you must all come and practise.

Let the walls be splashed with our inaccurate145 expectorating! They will be honest stains, at least.' And now the photograph has run out of words; now I notice, with my mind's eye, that all the while the Hummingbird has been staring towards the door, which is past my grandfather's shoulder at the very edge of the picture. Beyond the door, history calls. The Hummingbird is impatient to get away... but he has been with us, and his presence has brought us two threads which will pursue me through all my days: the thread that leads to the ghetto of the magicians; and the thread that tells the story of Nadir the rhymeless, verbless poet and a priceless silver spittoon.

'What nonsense,' our Padma says. 'How can a picture talk? Stop now; you must be too tired to think.' But when I say to her that Mian Abdullah had the strange trait of humming without pause, humming in a strange way, neither musical nor unmusical, but somehow mechanical, the hum of an engine or dynamo, she swallows it easily enough, saying judiciously146, 'Well, if he was such an energetic man, it's no surprise to me.' She's all ears again; so I warm to my theme and report that Mian Abdullah's hum rose and fell in direct relationship to his work rate.

It was a hum that could fall low enough to give you toothache, and when it rose to its highest, most feverish147 pitch, it had the ability of inducing erections in anyone within its vicinity. ('Arre baap,' Padma laughs, 'no wonder he was so popular with the men!') Nadir Khan, as his secretary, was attacked constantly by his master's vibratory quirk148, and his ears jaw116 penis were forever behaving according to the dictates149 of the Hummingbird. Why, then, did Nadir stay, despite erections which embarrassed him in the company of strangers, despite aching molars and a work schedule which often occupied twenty-two hours in every twenty-four? Not - I believe - because he saw it as his poetic150 duty to get close to the centre of events and transmute53 them into literature. Nor because he wanted fame for himself. No: but Nadir had one thing in common with my grandfather, and it was enough. He, too, suffered from the optimism disease.

Like Aadam Aziz, like the Rani of Cooch Naheen, Nadir Khan loathed151 the Muslim League ('That bunch of toadies152!' the Rani cried in her silvery voice, swooping153 around the octaves like a skier154. 'Landowners with vested interests to protect! What do they have to do with Muslims? They go like toads155 to the British and form governments for them, now mat the Congress refuses to do it!' It was the year of the 'Quit India' resolution. 'And what's more,' the Rani said with finality, 'they are mad. Otherwise why would they want to partition India?')

Mian Abdullah, the Hummingbird, had created the Free Islam Convocation almost single-handedly. He invited the leaders of the dozens of Muslim splinter groups to form a loosely federated alternative to the dogmatism and vested interests of the Leaguers. It had been a great conjuring156 trick, because they had all come.

That was the first Convocation, in Lahore; Agra would see the second. The marquees would be filled with members of agrarian157 movements, urban labourers'

syndicates, religious divines and regional groupings. It would see confirmed what the first assembly had intimated: that the League, with its demand for a partitioned India, spoke158 on nobody's behalf but its own. They have turned their backs on us,' said the Convocation's posters, 'and now they claim we're standing159 behind them!' Mian Abdullah opposed the partition.

In the throes of the optimism epidemic, the Hummingbird's patron, the Rani of Cooch Naheen, never mentioned the clouds on the horizon. She never pointed160 out that Agra was a Muslim League stronghold, saying only, 'Aadam my boy, if the Hummingbird wants to hold Convocation here, I'm not about to suggest he goes to Allahabad.' She was bearing the entire expense of the event without complaint or interference; not, let it be said, without making enemies in the town. The Rani did not live like other Indian princes. Instead of teetar-hunts, she endowed scholarships. Instead of hotel scandals, she had politics. And so the rumours161 began. 'These scholars of hers, man, everyone knows they have to perform extra-curricular duties. They go to her bedroom in the dark, and she never lets them see her blotchy162 face, but bewitches them into bed with her voice of a singing witch!' Aadam Aziz had never believed in witches. He enjoyed her brilliant circle of friends who were as much at home in Persian as they were in German. But Naseem Aziz, who half-believed the stories about the Rani, never accompanied him to the princess's house. 'If God meant people to speak many tongues,' she argued, 'why did he put only one in our heads?'

And so it was that none of the Hummingbird's optimists were prepared for what happened. They played hit-the-spittoon, and ignored the cracks in the earth.

Sometimes legends make reality, and become more useful than the facts. According to legend, then - according to the polished gossip of the ancients at the paan-shop - Mian Abdullah owed his downfall to his purchase, at Agra railway station, of a peacock-feather fan, despite Nadir Khan's warning about bad luck.

What is more, on that night of crescent moons, Abdullah had been working with Nadir, so that when the new moon rose they both saw it through glass. 'These things matter,' the betel-chewers say. 'We have been alive too long, and we know.' (Padma is nodding her head in agreement.)

The Convocation offices were on the ground floor of the historical faculty163 building at the University campus. Abdullah and Nadir were coming to the end of their night's work; the Hummingbird's hum was low-pitched and Nadir's teeth were on edge. There was a poster on the office wall, expressing Abdullah's favourite anti-Partition sentiment, a quote from the poet Iqbal: 'Where can we find a land that is foreign to God?' And now the assassins reached the campus.

Facts: Abdullah had plenty of enemies. The British attitude to him was always ambiguous. Brigadier Dodson hadn't wanted him in town. There was a knock on the door and Nadir answered it. Six new moons came into the room, six crescent knives held by men dressed all in black, with covered faces. Two men held Nadir while the others moved towards the Hummingbird.

'At this point,' the betel-chewers say, 'the Hummingbird's hum became higher.

Higher and higher, yara, and the assassins' eyes became wide as their members made tents under their robes. Then -Allah, then! - the knives began to sing and Abdullah sang louder, humming high-high like he'd never hummed before. His body was hard and the long curved blades had trouble killing him; one broke on a rib22, but the others quickly became stained with red. But now - listen! - Abdullah's humming rose out of the range of our human ears, and was heard by the dogs of the town. In Agra there are maybe eight thousand four hundred and twenty pie-dogs. On that night, it is certain that some were eating, others dying; there were some who fornicated and others who did not hear the call. Say about two thousand of these; that left six thousand four hundred and twenty of the curs, and all of these turned and ran for the University, many of them rushing across the railway tracks from the wrong side of town. It is well known that this is true. Everyone in town saw it, except those who were asleep. They went noisily, like an army, and afterwards their trail was littered with bones and dung and bits of hair ... and all the time Abdullahji was humming, humming-humming, and the knives were singing. And know this: suddenly one of the killers164' eyes cracked and fell out of its socket165. Afterwards the pieces of glass were found, ground into the carpet!'

They say, 'When the dogs came Abdullah was nearly dead and the knives were blunt... they came like wild things, leaping through the window, which had no glass because Abdullah's hum had shattered it ... they thudded against the door until the wood broke ... and then they were everywhere, baba!... some without legs, others lacking hair, but most of them had some teeth at least, and some of these were sharp ... And now see this: the assassins cannot have feared interruption, because they had posted no guards; so the dogs got them by surprise... the two men holding Nadir Khan, that spineless one, fell beneath the weight of the beasts, with maybe sixty-eight dogs on their necks ... afterwards the killers were so badly damaged that nobody could say who they were.'

'At some point,' they say, 'Nadir dived out of the window and ran. The dogs and assassins were too busy to follow him.'

Dogs? Assassins? ... If you don't believe me, check. Find out about Mian Abdullah and his Convocations. Discover how we've swept his story under the carpet ... then let me tell how Nadir Khan, his lieutenant166, spent three years under my family's rugs.

As a young man he had shared a room with a painter whose paintings had grown larger and larger as he tried to get the whole of life into his art. 'Look at me,' he said before he killed himself, 'I wanted to be a miniaturist and I've got elephantiasis instead!' The swollen167 events of the night of the crescent knives reminded Nadir Khan of his room-mate, because life had once again, perversely168, refused to remain life-sized. It had turned melodramatic: and that embarrassed him.

How did Nadir Khan run across the night town without being noticed? I put it down to his being a bad poet, and as such, a born survivor169. As he ran, there was a self-consciousness about him, his body appearing to apologize for behaving as if it were in a cheap thriller170, of the sort hawkers sell on railway stations, or give away free with bottles of green medicine that can cure colds, typhoid, impotence, homesickness and poverty... On Cornwallis Road, it was a warm night.

A coal-brazier stood empty by the deserted171 rickshaw rank. The paan-shop was closed and the old men were asleep on the roof, dreaming of tomorrow's game. An insomniac172 cow, idly chewing a Red and White cigarette packet, strolled by a bundled street-sleeper, which meant he would wake in the morning, because a cow will ignore a sleeping man unless he's about to die. Then it nuzzles at him thoughtfully. Sacred cows eat anything.

My grandfather's large old stone house, bought from the proceeds of the gemstone shops and blind Ghani's dowry settlement, stood in the darkness, set back a dignified173 distance from the road. There was a walled-in garden at the rear and by the garden door was the low outhouse rented cheaply to the family of old Hamdard and his son Rashid the rickshaw boy. In front of the outhouse was the well with its cow-driven waterwheel, from which irrigation channels ran down to the small cornfield which lined the house all way to the gate in the perimeter174 wall along Cornwallis Road. Between house and field ran a small gully for pedestrians175 and rickshaws. In Agra the cycle-rickshaw had recently replaced the kind where a man stood between wooden shafts176. There was still trade for the horse-drawn tongas, but it was dwindling177 ... Nadir Khan ducked in through the gate, squatted178 for a moment with his back to the perimeter wall, reddening as he passed his water. Then, seemingly upset by the vulgarity of his decision, he fled to the cornfield and plunged179 in. Partially180 concealed181 by the sun-withered stalks, he lay down in the foetal position.

Rashid the rickshaw boy was seventeen and on his way home from the cinema. That morning he'd seen two men pushing a low trolley182 on which were mounted two enormous hand-painted posters, back-to-back, advertising183 the new film Gat-Wallah, starring Rashid's favourite actor Dev. FRESH FROM FIFTY FIERCE WEEKS IN DELHI! STRAIGHT FROM SIXTY-THREE SHARPSHOOTER WEEKS IN BOMBAY! the posters cried. SECOND RIP-ROARIOUS YEAR! The film was an eastern Western. Its hero, Dev, who was not slim, rode the range alone. It looked very like the Indo-Gangetic plain. Gai-Wallah means cow-fellow and Dev played a sort of one-man vigilante force for the protection of cows. SINGLE-HANDED! and DOUBLE-BARRELLED!, he stalked the many herds184 of cattle which were being driven across the range to the slaughterhouse, vanquished186 the cattlemen and liberated187 the sacred beasts. (The film was made for Hindu audiences; in Delhi it had caused riots. Muslim Leaguers had driven cows past cinemas to the slaughter185, and had been mobbed.) The songs and dances were good and there was a beautiful nautch girl who would have looked more graceful188 if they hadn't made her dance in a ten-gallon cowboy hat. Rashid sat on a bench in the front stalls and joined in the whistles and cheers. He ate two samosas189, spending too much money; his mother would be hurt but he'd had a fine time. As he pedalled his rickshaw home he practised some of the fancy riding he'd seen in the film, hanging down low on one side, freewheeling down a slight slope, using the rickshaw the way Gai-Wallah used his horse to conceal him from his enemies. Eventually he reached up, turned the handlebars and to his delight the rickshaw moved sweetly through the gate and down the gully by the cornfield. Gai-Wallah had used this trick to steal up on a gang of cattlemen as they sat in the brush, drinking and gambling190. Rashid applied the brakes and flung himself into the cornfield, running -FULL-TILT!-at the unsuspecting cattlemen, his guns cocked and ready. As he neared their camp-fire he released his 'yell of hate' to frighten them. YAAAAAAAA! Obviously he did not really shout so close to the Doctor Sahib's house, but he distended191 his mouth as he ran, screaming silently. BLAMM! BLAMM! Nadir Khan had been finding sleep hard to come by and now he opened his eyes. He saw - EEEYAAAH! - a wild stringy figure coming at him like a mail-train, yelling at the top of his voice - but maybe he had gone deaf, because there wasn't any noise! - and he was rising to his feet, the shriek192 was just passing his over-plump lips, when Rashid saw him and found voice as well. Hooting193 in terrified unison194, they both turned tail and ran. Then they stopped, each having noted195 the other's flight, and peered at one another through the shrivelling corn. Rashid recognized Nadir Khan, saw his torn clothes and was deeply troubled.

'I am a friend,' Nadir said foolishly. 'I must see Doctor Aziz.'

'But the Doctor is asleep, and is not in the cornfield.' Pull yourself together, Rashid told himself, stop talking nonsense! This is Mian Abdullah's friend!...

But Nadir didn't seem to have noticed; his face was working furiously, trying to get out some words which had stuck like shreds196 of chicken between his teeth...

'My life,' he managed it at last, 'is in danger.'

And now Rashid, still full of the spirit of Gai-Wallah, came to the rescue. He led Nadir to a door in the side of the house. It was bolted and locked; but Rashid pulled, and the lock came away in his hand. 'Indian-made' he whispered, as if that explained everything. And, as Nadir stepped inside, Rashid hissed197, 'Count on me completely, sahib. Mum's the word! I swear on my mother's grey hairs.'

He replaced the lock on the outside. To have actually saved the Hummingbird's right-hand man!... But from what? Whom?... Well, real life was better than the pictures, sometimes.

'Is that him?' Padma asks, in some confusion. 'That fat soft cowardly plumpie?

Is he going to be your father?'


点击收听单词发音收听单词发音  

1 metaphorically metaphorically     
adv. 用比喻地
参考例句:
  • It is context and convention that determine whether a term will be interpreted literally or metaphorically. 对一个词的理解是按字面意思还是隐喻的意思要视乎上下文和习惯。
  • Metaphorically it implied a sort of admirable energy. 从比喻来讲,它含有一种令人赞许的能量的意思。
2 riddling 033db60e06315b32fa06c293e0453096     
adj.谜一样的,解谜的n.筛选
参考例句:
  • A long look from dark eyes, a riddling sentence to be woven on the church's looms. 深色的眼睛长久地凝视着,一个谜语般的句子,在教会的织布机上不停地织了下去。 来自互联网
  • Data riddling on reconstruction of NURBS sur-faces in reverse engineering is a generalized conception. 逆向工程中nurbs曲面重构的数据筛选是一个广义的概念,它所涉及的内容很广泛,包括数据获取过程中的处理。 来自互联网
3 jug QaNzK     
n.(有柄,小口,可盛水等的)大壶,罐,盂
参考例句:
  • He walked along with a jug poised on his head.他头上顶着一个水罐,保持着平衡往前走。
  • She filled the jug with fresh water.她将水壶注满了清水。
4 buffeted 2484040e69c5816c25c65e8310465688     
反复敲打( buffet的过去式和过去分词 ); 连续猛击; 打来打去; 推来搡去
参考例句:
  • to be buffeted by the wind 被风吹得左右摇摆
  • We were buffeted by the wind and the rain. 我们遭到风雨的袭击。
5 literally 28Wzv     
adv.照字面意义,逐字地;确实
参考例句:
  • He translated the passage literally.他逐字逐句地翻译这段文字。
  • Sometimes she would not sit down till she was literally faint.有时候,她不走到真正要昏厥了,决不肯坐下来。
6 disintegrating 9d32d74678f9504e3a8713641951ccdf     
v.(使)破裂[分裂,粉碎],(使)崩溃( disintegrate的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • As a poetic version of a disintegrating world, this one pleased him. 作为世界崩溃论在文学上的表现,他非常喜欢这个学说。 来自辞典例句
  • Soil animals increase the speed of litter breakdown by disintegrating tissue. 土壤动物通过分解组织,加速落叶层降解的速度。 来自辞典例句
7 acceleration ff8ya     
n.加速,加速度
参考例句:
  • All spacemen must be able to bear acceleration.所有太空人都应能承受加速度。
  • He has also called for an acceleration of political reforms.他同时呼吁加快政治改革的步伐。
8 crumble 7nRzv     
vi.碎裂,崩溃;vt.弄碎,摧毁
参考例句:
  • Opposition more or less crumbled away.反对势力差不多都瓦解了。
  • Even if the seas go dry and rocks crumble,my will will remain firm.纵然海枯石烂,意志永不动摇。
9 anonymous lM2yp     
adj.无名的;匿名的;无特色的
参考例句:
  • Sending anonymous letters is a cowardly act.寄匿名信是懦夫的行为。
  • The author wishes to remain anonymous.作者希望姓名不公开。
10 oblivious Y0Byc     
adj.易忘的,遗忘的,忘却的,健忘的
参考例句:
  • Mother has become quite oblivious after the illness.这次病后,妈妈变得特别健忘。
  • He was quite oblivious of the danger.他完全没有察觉到危险。
11 confide WYbyd     
v.向某人吐露秘密
参考例句:
  • I would never readily confide in anybody.我从不轻易向人吐露秘密。
  • He is going to confide the secrets of his heart to us.他将向我们吐露他心里的秘密。
12 brass DWbzI     
n.黄铜;黄铜器,铜管乐器
参考例句:
  • Many of the workers play in the factory's brass band.许多工人都在工厂铜管乐队中演奏。
  • Brass is formed by the fusion of copper and zinc.黄铜是通过铜和锌的熔合而成的。
13 nadir 2F7xN     
n.最低点,无底
参考例句:
  • This failure was the nadir of her career.这次失败是她事业上的低谷。
  • The demand for this product will reach its nadir within two years.对此产品的需求在两年内将达到最低点。
14 cocaine VbYy4     
n.可卡因,古柯碱(用作局部麻醉剂)
参考例句:
  • That young man is a cocaine addict.那个年轻人吸食可卡因成瘾。
  • Don't have cocaine abusively.不可滥服古柯碱。
15 obfuscate P5VzA     
v.使困惑,使迷乱
参考例句:
  • He delighted in his ability to obfuscate.他对自己有本事把别人搞得晕头转向感到得意。
  • This message might appear if you obfuscate the solution code.如果您对解决方案代码进行模糊处理,可能显示此消息。
16 olfactory Z5EzW     
adj.嗅觉的
参考例句:
  • He is to develop a sensor to substitute for the olfactory abilities of dogs.克罗克将研制一种传感器用以代替狗的嗅觉功能。
  • Based on these findings, Keller suspects that each person has an olfactory blind spot.根据这些发现,凯勒推断,每个人都有一个嗅觉盲区。
17 dedicated duHzy2     
adj.一心一意的;献身的;热诚的
参考例句:
  • He dedicated his life to the cause of education.他献身于教育事业。
  • His whole energies are dedicated to improve the design.他的全部精力都放在改进这项设计上了。
18 condiments a632be4317089bb19457274e84060853     
n.调味品
参考例句:
  • Refill and clean all salt and peppers, sugar bowls, and other condiments. 清洁并续满所有的胡椒瓶、盐瓶、糖缸及其他调料。
  • Go easy on condiments, they tend to be salty. 别放太多调味品,这样往往会太咸。
19 gasp UfxzL     
n.喘息,气喘;v.喘息;气吁吁他说
参考例句:
  • She gave a gasp of surprise.她吃惊得大口喘气。
  • The enemy are at their last gasp.敌人在做垂死的挣扎。
20 mere rC1xE     
adj.纯粹的;仅仅,只不过
参考例句:
  • That is a mere repetition of what you said before.那不过是重复了你以前讲的话。
  • It's a mere waste of time waiting any longer.再等下去纯粹是浪费时间。
21 winking b599b2f7a74d5974507152324c7b8979     
n.瞬眼,目语v.使眼色( wink的现在分词 );递眼色(表示友好或高兴等);(指光)闪烁;闪亮
参考例句:
  • Anyone can do it; it's as easy as winking. 这谁都办得到,简直易如反掌。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • The stars were winking in the clear sky. 星星在明亮的天空中闪烁。 来自《简明英汉词典》
22 rib 6Xgxu     
n.肋骨,肋状物
参考例句:
  • He broke a rib when he fell off his horse.他从马上摔下来折断了一根肋骨。
  • He has broken a rib and the doctor has strapped it up.他断了一根肋骨,医生已包扎好了。
23 corruption TzCxn     
n.腐败,堕落,贪污
参考例句:
  • The people asked the government to hit out against corruption and theft.人民要求政府严惩贪污盗窃。
  • The old man reviled against corruption.那老人痛斥了贪污舞弊。
24 bullying f23dd48b95ce083d3774838a76074f5f     
v.恐吓,威逼( bully的现在分词 );豪;跋扈
参考例句:
  • Many cases of bullying go unreported . 很多恐吓案件都没有人告发。
  • All cases of bullying will be severely dealt with. 所有以大欺小的情况都将受到严肃处理。 来自《简明英汉词典》
25 narrative CFmxS     
n.叙述,故事;adj.叙事的,故事体的
参考例句:
  • He was a writer of great narrative power.他是一位颇有记述能力的作家。
  • Neither author was very strong on narrative.两个作者都不是很善于讲故事。
26 nonchalance a0Zys     
n.冷淡,漠不关心
参考例句:
  • She took her situation with much nonchalance.她对这个处境毫不介意。
  • He conceals his worries behind a mask of nonchalance.他装作若无其事,借以掩饰内心的不安。
27 jutting 4bac33b29dd90ee0e4db9b0bc12f8944     
v.(使)突出( jut的现在分词 );伸出;(从…)突出;高出
参考例句:
  • The climbers rested on a sheltered ledge jutting out from the cliff. 登山者在悬崖的岩棚上休息。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The soldier saw a gun jutting out of some bushes. 那士兵看见丛林中有一枝枪伸出来。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
28 hip 1dOxX     
n.臀部,髋;屋脊
参考例句:
  • The thigh bone is connected to the hip bone.股骨连着髋骨。
  • The new coats blouse gracefully above the hip line.新外套在臀围线上优美地打着褶皱。
29 nagging be0b69d13a0baed63cc899dc05b36d80     
adj.唠叨的,挑剔的;使人不得安宁的v.不断地挑剔或批评(某人)( nag的现在分词 );不断地烦扰或伤害(某人);无休止地抱怨;不断指责
参考例句:
  • Stop nagging—I'll do it as soon as I can. 别唠叨了—我会尽快做的。
  • I've got a nagging pain in my lower back. 我后背下方老是疼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
30 puddle otNy9     
n.(雨)水坑,泥潭
参考例句:
  • The boy hopped the mud puddle and ran down the walk.这个男孩跳过泥坑,沿着人行道跑了。
  • She tripped over and landed in a puddle.她绊了一下,跌在水坑里。
31 shrug Ry3w5     
v.耸肩(表示怀疑、冷漠、不知等)
参考例句:
  • With a shrug,he went out of the room.他耸一下肩,走出了房间。
  • I admire the way she is able to shrug off unfair criticism.我很佩服她能对错误的批评意见不予理会。
32 wavy 7gFyX     
adj.有波浪的,多浪的,波浪状的,波动的,不稳定的
参考例句:
  • She drew a wavy line under the word.她在这个词的下面画了一条波纹线。
  • His wavy hair was too long and flopped just beneath his brow.他的波浪式头发太长了,正好垂在他的眉毛下。
33 fissured 27cba7efcbc71b84010b01208f0a9606     
adj.裂缝的v.裂开( fissure的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • South African vine having a massive rootstock covered with deeply fissured bark. 南非藤蔓植物,有很大的根状茎,皮上有很深的裂纹。 来自互联网
  • The concentrated leakage passage in fissured rock is studied with dummy heat source method. 利用虚拟热源法研究坝基裂隙岩体中存在的集中渗漏通道。 来自互联网
34 superstition VHbzg     
n.迷信,迷信行为
参考例句:
  • It's a common superstition that black cats are unlucky.认为黑猫不吉祥是一种很普遍的迷信。
  • Superstition results from ignorance.迷信产生于无知。
35 contradictory VpazV     
adj.反驳的,反对的,抗辩的;n.正反对,矛盾对立
参考例句:
  • The argument is internally contradictory.论据本身自相矛盾。
  • What he said was self-contradictory.他讲话前后不符。
36 fabulous ch6zI     
adj.极好的;极为巨大的;寓言中的,传说中的
参考例句:
  • We had a fabulous time at the party.我们在晚会上玩得很痛快。
  • This is a fabulous sum of money.这是一笔巨款。
37 doomed EuuzC1     
命定的
参考例句:
  • The court doomed the accused to a long term of imprisonment. 法庭判处被告长期监禁。
  • A country ruled by an iron hand is doomed to suffer. 被铁腕人物统治的国家定会遭受不幸的。
38 hummingbird BcjxW     
n.蜂鸟
参考例句:
  • The hummingbird perches on a twig of the hawthorn.小蜂鸟栖在山楂树枝上。
  • The hummingbird is the only bird that can fly backward.蜂鸟是唯一能倒退向后飞的鸟。
39 varied giIw9     
adj.多样的,多变化的
参考例句:
  • The forms of art are many and varied.艺术的形式是多种多样的。
  • The hotel has a varied programme of nightly entertainment.宾馆有各种晚间娱乐活动。
40 confessions 4fa8f33e06cadcb434c85fa26d61bf95     
n.承认( confession的名词复数 );自首;声明;(向神父的)忏悔
参考例句:
  • It is strictly forbidden to obtain confessions and to give them credence. 严禁逼供信。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
  • Neither trickery nor coercion is used to secure confessions. 既不诱供也不逼供。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
41 strenuous 8GvzN     
adj.奋发的,使劲的;紧张的;热烈的,狂热的
参考例句:
  • He made strenuous efforts to improve his reading. 他奋发努力提高阅读能力。
  • You may run yourself down in this strenuous week.你可能会在这紧张的一周透支掉自己。
42 virulent 1HtyK     
adj.有毒的,有恶意的,充满敌意的
参考例句:
  • She is very virulent about her former employer.她对她过去的老板恨之入骨。
  • I stood up for her despite the virulent criticism.尽管她遭到恶毒的批评,我还是维护她。
43 vocal vhOwA     
adj.直言不讳的;嗓音的;n.[pl.]声乐节目
参考例句:
  • The tongue is a vocal organ.舌头是一个发音器官。
  • Public opinion at last became vocal.终于舆论哗然。
44 gaping gaping     
adj.口的;张口的;敞口的;多洞穴的v.目瞪口呆地凝视( gape的现在分词 );张开,张大
参考例句:
  • Ahead of them was a gaping abyss. 他们前面是一个巨大的深渊。
  • The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。 来自《简明英汉词典》
45 fissures 7c89089a0ec5a3628fd80fb80bf349b6     
n.狭长裂缝或裂隙( fissure的名词复数 );裂伤;分歧;分裂v.裂开( fissure的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • Rising molten rock flows out on the ocean floor and caps the fissures, trapping the water. 上升熔岩流到海底并堵住了裂隙,结果把海水封在里面。 来自辞典例句
  • The French have held two colloquia and an international symposium on rock fissures. 法国已经开了两次岩石裂缝方面的报告会和一个国际会议。 来自辞典例句
46 intersections c67ecd1980278dab3ff2b496feea84b2     
n.横断( intersection的名词复数 );交叉;交叉点;交集
参考例句:
  • Traffic lights have been placed at all major intersections. 所有重要的交叉路口都安装了交通信号灯。
  • Intersections are of the greatest importance in highway design. 在道路设计中,交叉口占有最重要的地位。 来自辞典例句
47 omens 4fe4cb32de8b61bd4b8036d574e4f48a     
n.前兆,预兆( omen的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The omens for the game are still not propitious. 这场比赛仍不被看好。 来自辞典例句
  • Such omens betide no good. 这种征兆预示情况不妙。 来自辞典例句
48 apparently tMmyQ     
adv.显然地;表面上,似乎
参考例句:
  • An apparently blind alley leads suddenly into an open space.山穷水尽,豁然开朗。
  • He was apparently much surprised at the news.他对那个消息显然感到十分惊异。
49 prosaically addf5fa73ee3c679ba45dc49f39e438f     
adv.无聊地;乏味地;散文式地;平凡地
参考例句:
  • 'We're not dead yet,'said Julia prosaically. “我们还没死哩,”朱莉亚干巴巴地答道。 来自英汉文学
  • I applied my attention prosaically to my routine. 我把我的注意力投入到了平淡无味的日常事务之中。 来自互联网
50 irritations ca107a0ca873713c50af00dc1350e994     
n.激怒( irritation的名词复数 );恼怒;生气;令人恼火的事
参考例句:
  • For a time I have forgotten the worries and irritations I was nurturing before. 我暂时忘掉了过去积聚的忧愁和烦躁。 来自辞典例句
  • Understanding God's big picture can turn irritations into inspirations. 明了神的蓝图,将使你的烦躁转为灵感。 来自互联网
51 bruise kcCyw     
n.青肿,挫伤;伤痕;vt.打青;挫伤
参考例句:
  • The bruise was caused by a kick.这伤痕是脚踢的。
  • Jack fell down yesterday and got a big bruise on his face.杰克昨天摔了一跤,脸上摔出老大一块淤斑。
52 transmuted 2a95a8b4555ae227b03721439c4922be     
v.使变形,使变质,把…变成…( transmute的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • It was once thought that lead could be transmuted into gold. 有人曾经认为铅可以变成黄金。
  • They transmuted the raw materials into finished products. 他们把原料变为成品。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
53 transmute KmWwy     
vt.使变化,使改变
参考例句:
  • We can transmute water power into electrical power.我们能将水力变成电力。
  • A radioactive atom could transmute itself into an entirely different kind of atom.放射性原子本身能嬗变为性质完全不同的另一种原子。
54 tune NmnwW     
n.调子;和谐,协调;v.调音,调节,调整
参考例句:
  • He'd written a tune,and played it to us on the piano.他写了一段曲子,并在钢琴上弹给我们听。
  • The boy beat out a tune on a tin can.那男孩在易拉罐上敲出一首曲子。
55 epidemic 5iTzz     
n.流行病;盛行;adj.流行性的,流传极广的
参考例句:
  • That kind of epidemic disease has long been stamped out.那种传染病早已绝迹。
  • The authorities tried to localise the epidemic.当局试图把流行病限制在局部范围。
56 ghetto nzGyV     
n.少数民族聚居区,贫民区
参考例句:
  • Racism and crime still flourish in the ghetto.城市贫民区的种族主义和犯罪仍然十分猖獗。
  • I saw that achievement as a possible pattern for the entire ghetto.我把获得的成就看作整个黑人区可以仿效的榜样。
57 Founder wigxF     
n.创始者,缔造者
参考例句:
  • He was extolled as the founder of their Florentine school.他被称颂为佛罗伦萨画派的鼻祖。
  • According to the old tradition,Romulus was the founder of Rome.按照古老的传说,罗穆卢斯是古罗马的建国者。
58 unifier 03587029fefccaf696d7c30ff56be857     
联合者,统一者,使一致的人(或物); 通代
参考例句:
  • Herb is the unifier of the people. 喷鼻草是人平易近的融合剂。
59 ERECTED ERECTED     
adj. 直立的,竖立的,笔直的 vt. 使 ... 直立,建立
参考例句:
  • A monument to him was erected in St Paul's Cathedral. 在圣保罗大教堂为他修了一座纪念碑。
  • A monument was erected to the memory of that great scientist. 树立了一块纪念碑纪念那位伟大的科学家。
60 jaunty x3kyn     
adj.愉快的,满足的;adv.心满意足地,洋洋得意地;n.心满意足;洋洋得意
参考例句:
  • She cocked her hat at a jaunty angle.她把帽子歪戴成俏皮的样子。
  • The happy boy walked with jaunty steps.这个快乐的孩子以轻快活泼的步子走着。
61 glimmer 5gTxU     
v.发出闪烁的微光;n.微光,微弱的闪光
参考例句:
  • I looked at her and felt a glimmer of hope.我注视她,感到了一线希望。
  • A glimmer of amusement showed in her eyes.她的眼中露出一丝笑意。
62 malevolent G8IzV     
adj.有恶意的,恶毒的
参考例句:
  • Why are they so malevolent to me?他们为什么对我如此恶毒?
  • We must thwart his malevolent schemes.我们决不能让他的恶毒阴谋得逞。
63 disapproving bddf29198e28ab64a272563d29c1f915     
adj.不满的,反对的v.不赞成( disapprove的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Mother gave me a disapproving look. 母亲的眼神告诉我她是不赞成的。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Her father threw a disapproving glance at her. 她父亲不满地瞥了她一眼。 来自《简明英汉词典》
64 unified 40b03ccf3c2da88cc503272d1de3441c     
(unify 的过去式和过去分词); 统一的; 统一标准的; 一元化的
参考例句:
  • The teacher unified the answer of her pupil with hers. 老师核对了学生的答案。
  • The First Emperor of Qin unified China in 221 B.C. 秦始皇于公元前221年统一中国。
65 prematurely nlMzW4     
adv.过早地,贸然地
参考例句:
  • She was born prematurely with poorly developed lungs. 她早产,肺部未发育健全。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • His hair was prematurely white, but his busy eyebrows were still jet-black. 他的头发已经白了,不过两道浓眉还是乌黑乌黑的。 来自辞典例句
66 moles 2e1eeabf4f0f1abdaca739a4be445d16     
防波堤( mole的名词复数 ); 鼹鼠; 痣; 间谍
参考例句:
  • Unsightly moles can be removed surgically. 不雅观的痣可以手术去除。
  • Two moles of epoxy react with one mole of A-1100. 两个克分子环氧与一个克分子A-1100反应。
67 fortress Mf2zz     
n.堡垒,防御工事
参考例句:
  • They made an attempt on a fortress.他们试图夺取这一要塞。
  • The soldier scaled the wall of the fortress by turret.士兵通过塔车攀登上了要塞的城墙。
68 citadel EVYy0     
n.城堡;堡垒;避难所
参考例句:
  • The citadel was solid.城堡是坚固的。
  • This citadel is built on high ground for protecting the city.这座城堡建于高处是为保护城市。
69 skull CETyO     
n.头骨;颅骨
参考例句:
  • The skull bones fuse between the ages of fifteen and twenty-five.头骨在15至25岁之间长合。
  • He fell out of the window and cracked his skull.他从窗子摔了出去,跌裂了颅骨。
70 barefaced WP9yN     
adj.厚颜无耻的,公然的
参考例句:
  • It's barefaced robbery asking such a high price for that old bicycle!那辆旧自行车要价如此之高真是无耻的敲诈。
  • What barefaced cheek!真是厚颜无耻!
71 barricades c0ae4401dbb9a95a57ddfb8b9765579f     
路障,障碍物( barricade的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The police stormed the barricades the demonstrators had put up. 警察冲破了示威者筑起的街垒。
  • Others died young, in prison or on the barricades. 另一些人年轻时就死在监牢里或街垒旁。
72 domain ys8xC     
n.(活动等)领域,范围;领地,势力范围
参考例句:
  • This information should be in the public domain.这一消息应该为公众所知。
  • This question comes into the domain of philosophy.这一问题属于哲学范畴。
73 linen W3LyK     
n.亚麻布,亚麻线,亚麻制品;adj.亚麻布制的,亚麻的
参考例句:
  • The worker is starching the linen.这名工人正在给亚麻布上浆。
  • Fine linen and cotton fabrics were known as well as wool.精细的亚麻织品和棉织品像羊毛一样闻名遐迩。
74 turnips 0a5b5892a51b9bd77b247285ad0b3f77     
芜青( turnip的名词复数 ); 芜菁块根; 芜菁甘蓝块根; 怀表
参考例句:
  • Well, I like turnips, tomatoes, eggplants, cauliflowers, onions and carrots. 噢,我喜欢大萝卜、西红柿、茄子、菜花、洋葱和胡萝卜。 来自魔法英语-口语突破(高中)
  • This is turnip soup, made from real turnips. 这是大头菜汤,用真正的大头菜做的。
75 ferociously e84ae4b9f07eeb9fbd44e3c2c7b272c5     
野蛮地,残忍地
参考例句:
  • The buck shook his antlers ferociously. 那雄鹿猛烈地摇动他的鹿角。
  • At intervals, he gritted his teeth ferociously. 他不时狠狠的轧平。
76 doorway 2s0xK     
n.门口,(喻)入门;门路,途径
参考例句:
  • They huddled in the shop doorway to shelter from the rain.他们挤在商店门口躲雨。
  • Mary suddenly appeared in the doorway.玛丽突然出现在门口。
77 curry xnozh     
n.咖哩粉,咖哩饭菜;v.用咖哩粉调味,用马栉梳,制革
参考例句:
  • Rice makes an excellent complement to a curry dish.有咖喱的菜配米饭最棒。
  • Add a teaspoonful of curry powder.加一茶匙咖喱粉。
78 afflicted aaf4adfe86f9ab55b4275dae2a2e305a     
使受痛苦,折磨( afflict的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • About 40% of the country's population is afflicted with the disease. 全国40%左右的人口患有这种疾病。
  • A terrible restlessness that was like to hunger afflicted Martin Eden. 一阵可怕的、跟饥饿差不多的不安情绪折磨着马丁·伊登。
79 dependants bf603540028ae961f19e575de6e66342     
受赡养者,受扶养的家属( dependant的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The government has agreed to take only 150 refugees plus their dependants. 政府承诺只收留150 名难民及家属。
  • There are approximately 12 million migrants with their dependants living in the EU countries. 大约有1200万流动工人带着家属居住在欧盟诸国。
80 conceal DpYzt     
v.隐藏,隐瞒,隐蔽
参考例句:
  • He had to conceal his identity to escape the police.为了躲避警方,他只好隐瞒身份。
  • He could hardly conceal his joy at his departure.他几乎掩饰不住临行时的喜悦。
81 concealment AvYzx1     
n.隐藏, 掩盖,隐瞒
参考例句:
  • the concealment of crime 对罪行的隐瞒
  • Stay in concealment until the danger has passed. 把自己藏起来,待危险过去后再出来。
82 grudge hedzG     
n.不满,怨恨,妒嫉;vt.勉强给,不情愿做
参考例句:
  • I grudge paying so much for such inferior goods.我不愿花这么多钱买次品。
  • I do not grudge him his success.我不嫉妒他的成功。
83 faltered d034d50ce5a8004ff403ab402f79ec8d     
(嗓音)颤抖( falter的过去式和过去分词 ); 支吾其词; 蹒跚; 摇晃
参考例句:
  • He faltered out a few words. 他支吾地说出了几句。
  • "Er - but he has such a longhead!" the man faltered. 他不好意思似的嚅嗫着:“这孩子脑袋真长。”
84 precipitated cd4c3f83abff4eafc2a6792d14e3895b     
v.(突如其来地)使发生( precipitate的过去式和过去分词 );促成;猛然摔下;使沉淀
参考例句:
  • His resignation precipitated a leadership crisis. 他的辞职立即引发了领导层的危机。
  • He lost his footing and was precipitated to the ground. 他失足摔倒在地上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
85 remarkable 8Vbx6     
adj.显著的,异常的,非凡的,值得注意的
参考例句:
  • She has made remarkable headway in her writing skills.她在写作技巧方面有了长足进步。
  • These cars are remarkable for the quietness of their engines.这些汽车因发动机没有噪音而不同凡响。
86 confiding e67d6a06e1cdfe51bc27946689f784d1     
adj.相信人的,易于相信的v.吐露(秘密,心事等)( confide的现在分词 );(向某人)吐露(隐私、秘密等)
参考例句:
  • The girl is of a confiding nature. 这女孩具有轻信别人的性格。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
  • Celia, though confiding her opinion only to Andrew, disagreed. 西莉亚却不这么看,尽管她只向安德鲁吐露过。 来自辞典例句
87 stipulation FhryP     
n.契约,规定,条文;条款说明
参考例句:
  • There's no stipulation as to the amount you can invest. 没有关于投资额的规定。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The only stipulation the building society makes is that house must be insured. 建屋互助会作出的唯一规定是房屋必须保险。 来自《简明英汉词典》
88 ambiguity 9xWzT     
n.模棱两可;意义不明确
参考例句:
  • The telegram was misunderstood because of its ambiguity.由于电文意义不明确而造成了误解。
  • Her answer was above all ambiguity.她的回答毫不含糊。
89 devout Qlozt     
adj.虔诚的,虔敬的,衷心的 (n.devoutness)
参考例句:
  • His devout Catholicism appeals to ordinary people.他对天主教的虔诚信仰感染了普通民众。
  • The devout man prayed daily.那位虔诚的男士每天都祈祷。
90 forefinger pihxt     
n.食指
参考例句:
  • He pinched the leaf between his thumb and forefinger.他将叶子捏在拇指和食指之间。
  • He held it between the tips of his thumb and forefinger.他用他大拇指和食指尖拿着它。
91 wretch EIPyl     
n.可怜的人,不幸的人;卑鄙的人
参考例句:
  • You are really an ungrateful wretch to complain instead of thanking him.你不但不谢他,还埋怨他,真不知好歹。
  • The dead husband is not the dishonoured wretch they fancied him.死去的丈夫不是他们所想象的不光彩的坏蛋。
92 gasped e6af294d8a7477229d6749fa9e8f5b80     
v.喘气( gasp的过去式和过去分词 );喘息;倒抽气;很想要
参考例句:
  • She gasped at the wonderful view. 如此美景使她惊讶得屏住了呼吸。
  • People gasped with admiration at the superb skill of the gymnasts. 体操运动员的高超技艺令人赞叹。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
93 applied Tz2zXA     
adj.应用的;v.应用,适用
参考例句:
  • She plans to take a course in applied linguistics.她打算学习应用语言学课程。
  • This cream is best applied to the face at night.这种乳霜最好晚上擦脸用。
94 unleashing 8742c1b567c83ec8d9e14c8aeacbc729     
v.把(感情、力量等)释放出来,发泄( unleash的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • Company logos: making people's life better by unleashing Cummins power. 公司理念:以康明斯动力建设更美好的生活! 来自互联网
  • Sooner or later the dam will burst, unleashing catastrophic destruction. 否则堤坝将崩溃,酿成灾难。 来自互联网
95 hurling bd3cda2040d4df0d320fd392f72b7dc3     
n.爱尔兰式曲棍球v.猛投,用力掷( hurl的现在分词 );大声叫骂
参考例句:
  • The boat rocked wildly, hurling him into the water. 这艘船剧烈地晃动,把他甩到水中。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Fancy hurling away a good chance like that, the silly girl! 想想她竟然把这样一个好机会白白丢掉了,真是个傻姑娘! 来自《简明英汉词典》
96 climax yqyzc     
n.顶点;高潮;v.(使)达到顶点
参考例句:
  • The fifth scene was the climax of the play.第五场是全剧的高潮。
  • His quarrel with his father brought matters to a climax.他与他父亲的争吵使得事态发展到了顶点。
97 Buddhists 5f3c74ef01ae0fe3724e91f586462b77     
n.佛教徒( Buddhist的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The Jesuits in a phase of ascendancy, persecuted and insulted the Buddhists with great acrimony. 处于地位上升阶段的耶稣会修士迫害佛教徒,用尖刻的语言辱骂他们。 来自英汉非文学 - 历史
  • The return of Saivite rule to central Java had brought no antagonism between Buddhists and Hindus. 湿婆教在中爪哇恢复统治后,并没有导致佛教徒与印度教徒之间的对立。 来自辞典例句
98 vegetarians 92ca2254bb61eaa208608083177e4ed9     
n.吃素的人( vegetarian的名词复数 );素食者;素食主义者;食草动物
参考例句:
  • Vegetarians are no longer dismissed as cranks. 素食者不再被视为有怪癖的人。
  • Vegetarians believe that eating meat is bad karma. 素食者认为吃肉食是造恶业。
99 envisages ea73402f4b85e7991e1a7bf6243f6fca     
想像,设想( envisage的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • The board envisages that there will be a high profit. 董事会预期将会获得高额利润。
  • The paper reviews and envisages the development trend of carbon electrode. 本文对炭电极的发展方向做了回顾与展望。
100 descending descending     
n. 下行 adj. 下降的
参考例句:
  • The results are expressed in descending numerical order . 结果按数字降序列出。
  • The climbers stopped to orient themselves before descending the mountain. 登山者先停下来确定所在的位置,然后再下山。
101 duel 2rmxa     
n./v.决斗;(双方的)斗争
参考例句:
  • The two teams are locked in a duel for first place.两个队为争夺第一名打得难解难分。
  • Duroy was forced to challenge his disparager to duel.杜洛瓦不得不向诋毁他的人提出决斗。
102 immediate aapxh     
adj.立即的;直接的,最接近的;紧靠的
参考例句:
  • His immediate neighbours felt it their duty to call.他的近邻认为他们有责任去拜访。
  • We declared ourselves for the immediate convocation of the meeting.我们主张立即召开这个会议。
103 reprisals 1b3f77a774af41369e1f445cc33ad7c3     
n.报复(行为)( reprisal的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • They did not want to give evidence for fear of reprisals. 他们因为害怕报复而不想作证。
  • They took bloody reprisals against the leaders. 他们对领导进行了血腥的报复。 来自《简明英汉词典》
104 solicitously 85625447fd9f0b4b512250998549b412     
adv.热心地,热切地
参考例句:
  • Eyeing Hung-chien he said solicitously, "Hung-chien, you've lost a lot of weight." 他看了鸿渐一眼,关切的说:“鸿渐兄,你瘦得多了。” 来自汉英文学 - 围城
  • To their surprise Hung-chien merely asked Jou-chia solicitously, "Can the wine stains be washed out? 谁知道鸿渐只关切地问柔嘉:“酒渍洗得掉么? 来自汉英文学 - 围城
105 craters 1f8461e3895b38f51c992255a1c86823     
n.火山口( crater的名词复数 );弹坑等
参考例句:
  • Small meteorites have left impact craters all over the planet's surface. 这个行星的表面布满了小块陨石留下的撞击坑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The battlefield was full of craters made by exploding shells. 战场上布满弹坑。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
106 eldest bqkx6     
adj.最年长的,最年老的
参考例句:
  • The King's eldest son is the heir to the throne.国王的长子是王位的继承人。
  • The castle and the land are entailed on the eldest son.城堡和土地限定由长子继承。
107 devastation ku9zlF     
n.毁坏;荒废;极度震惊或悲伤
参考例句:
  • The bomb caused widespread devastation. 炸弹造成大面积破坏。
  • There was devastation on every side. 到处都是破坏的创伤。 来自《简明英汉词典》
108 unleashed unleashed     
v.把(感情、力量等)释放出来,发泄( unleash的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • The government's proposals unleashed a storm of protest in the press. 政府的提案引发了新闻界的抗议浪潮。
  • The full force of his rage was unleashed against me. 他把所有的怒气都发泄在我身上。 来自《简明英汉词典》
109 demonstration 9waxo     
n.表明,示范,论证,示威
参考例句:
  • His new book is a demonstration of his patriotism.他写的新书是他的爱国精神的证明。
  • He gave a demonstration of the new technique then and there.他当场表演了这种新的操作方法。
110 unwilling CjpwB     
adj.不情愿的
参考例句:
  • The natives were unwilling to be bent by colonial power.土著居民不愿受殖民势力的摆布。
  • His tightfisted employer was unwilling to give him a raise.他那吝啬的雇主不肯给他加薪。
111 killing kpBziQ     
n.巨额利润;突然赚大钱,发大财
参考例句:
  • Investors are set to make a killing from the sell-off.投资者准备清仓以便大赚一笔。
  • Last week my brother made a killing on Wall Street.上个周我兄弟在华尔街赚了一大笔。
112 acquiescence PJFy5     
n.默许;顺从
参考例句:
  • The chief inclined his head in sign of acquiescence.首领点点头表示允许。
  • This is due to his acquiescence.这是因为他的默许。
113 giggling 2712674ae81ec7e853724ef7e8c53df1     
v.咯咯地笑( giggle的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • We just sat there giggling like naughty schoolchildren. 我们只是坐在那儿像调皮的小学生一样的咯咯地傻笑。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I can't stand her giggling, she's so silly. 她吃吃地笑,叫我真受不了,那样子傻透了。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
114 rhythmically 4f33fe14f09ad5d6e6f5caf7b15440cf     
adv.有节奏地
参考例句:
  • A pigeon strutted along the roof, cooing rhythmically. 一只鸽子沿着屋顶大摇大摆地走,有节奏地咕咕叫。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Exposures of rhythmically banded protore are common in the workings. 在工作面中常见有韵律条带“原矿石”。 来自辞典例句
115 jaws cq9zZq     
n.口部;嘴
参考例句:
  • The antelope could not escape the crocodile's gaping jaws. 那只羚羊无法从鱷鱼张开的大口中逃脱。
  • The scored jaws of a vise help it bite the work. 台钳上有刻痕的虎钳牙帮助它紧咬住工件。
116 jaw 5xgy9     
n.颚,颌,说教,流言蜚语;v.喋喋不休,教训
参考例句:
  • He delivered a right hook to his opponent's jaw.他给了对方下巴一记右钩拳。
  • A strong square jaw is a sign of firm character.强健的方下巴是刚毅性格的标志。
117 decrepit A9lyt     
adj.衰老的,破旧的
参考例句:
  • The film had been shot in a decrepit old police station.该影片是在一所破旧不堪的警察局里拍摄的。
  • A decrepit old man sat on a park bench.一个衰弱的老人坐在公园的长凳上。
118 thighs e4741ffc827755fcb63c8b296150ab4e     
n.股,大腿( thigh的名词复数 );食用的鸡(等的)腿
参考例句:
  • He's gone to London for skin grafts on his thighs. 他去伦敦做大腿植皮手术了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The water came up to the fisherman's thighs. 水没到了渔夫的大腿。 来自《简明英汉词典》
119 utterance dKczL     
n.用言语表达,话语,言语
参考例句:
  • This utterance of his was greeted with bursts of uproarious laughter.他的讲话引起阵阵哄然大笑。
  • My voice cleaves to my throat,and sob chokes my utterance.我的噪子哽咽,泣不成声。
120 desultory BvZxp     
adj.散漫的,无方法的
参考例句:
  • Do not let the discussion fragment into a desultory conversation with no clear direction.不要让讨论变得支离破碎,成为没有明确方向的漫谈。
  • The constables made a desultory attempt to keep them away from the barn.警察漫不经心地拦着不让他们靠近谷仓。
121 hoop wcFx9     
n.(篮球)篮圈,篮
参考例句:
  • The child was rolling a hoop.那个孩子在滚铁环。
  • The wooden tub is fitted with the iron hoop.木盆都用铁箍箍紧。
122 urchins d5a7ff1b13569cf85a979bfc58c50045     
n.顽童( urchin的名词复数 );淘气鬼;猬;海胆
参考例句:
  • Some dozen barefooted urchins ganged in from the riverside. 几十个赤足的顽童从河边成群结队而来。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • People said that he had jaundice and urchins nicknamed him "Yellow Fellow." 别人说他是黄胆病,孩子们也就叫他“黄胖”了。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说
123 dodging dodging     
n.避开,闪过,音调改变v.闪躲( dodge的现在分词 );回避
参考例句:
  • He ran across the road, dodging the traffic. 他躲开来往的车辆跑过马路。
  • I crossed the highway, dodging the traffic. 我避开车流穿过了公路。 来自辞典例句
124 scattering 91b52389e84f945a976e96cd577a4e0c     
n.[物]散射;散乱,分散;在媒介质中的散播adj.散乱的;分散在不同范围的;广泛扩散的;(选票)数量分散的v.散射(scatter的ing形式);散布;驱散
参考例句:
  • The child felle into a rage and began scattering its toys about. 这孩子突发狂怒,把玩具扔得满地都是。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • The farmers are scattering seed. 农夫们在播种。 来自《简明英汉词典》
125 scatter uDwzt     
vt.撒,驱散,散开;散布/播;vi.分散,消散
参考例句:
  • You pile everything up and scatter things around.你把东西乱堆乱放。
  • Small villages scatter at the foot of the mountain.村庄零零落落地散布在山脚下。
126 stifling dhxz7C     
a.令人窒息的
参考例句:
  • The weather is stifling. It looks like rain. 今天太闷热,光景是要下雨。
  • We were stifling in that hot room with all the windows closed. 我们在那间关着窗户的热屋子里,简直透不过气来。
127 clots fc228b79d0fbd8618ecc4cda442af0dd     
n.凝块( clot的名词复数 );血块;蠢人;傻瓜v.凝固( clot的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • When you cut yourself, blood clots and forms a scab. 你割破了,血会凝固、结痂。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Milk clots when it turns sour. 奶变酸就凝块。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
128 congeals fc34f3b802fdd7240356a6c243acf03f     
v.使凝结,冻结( congeal的第三人称单数 );(指血)凝结
参考例句:
  • Water congeals to ice. 水凝结成冰。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Blood congeals to form a clot. 血凝结成块。 来自《简明英汉词典》
129 mildewing 91fc89bc8d601783f35ff06de1d45106     
v.(使)发霉,(使)长霉( mildew的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The hygroscopicity of rice influences its storage stability and is the main inducement of rice mildewing. 摘要大米的吸湿性影响其贮藏稳定性,是品质劣变的诱因。 来自互联网
130 aglow CVqzh     
adj.发亮的;发红的;adv.发亮地
参考例句:
  • The garden is aglow with many flowers.园中百花盛开。
  • The sky was aglow with the setting sun.天空因夕阳映照而发红光。
131 sprightly 4GQzv     
adj.愉快的,活泼的
参考例句:
  • She is as sprightly as a woman half her age.她跟比她年轻一半的妇女一样活泼。
  • He's surprisingly sprightly for an old man.他这把年纪了,还这么精神,真了不起。
132 kindly tpUzhQ     
adj.和蔼的,温和的,爽快的;adv.温和地,亲切地
参考例句:
  • Her neighbours spoke of her as kindly and hospitable.她的邻居都说她和蔼可亲、热情好客。
  • A shadow passed over the kindly face of the old woman.一道阴影掠过老太太慈祥的面孔。
133 clenched clenched     
v.紧握,抓紧,咬紧( clench的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • He clenched his fists in anger. 他愤怒地攥紧了拳头。
  • She clenched her hands in her lap to hide their trembling. 她攥紧双手放在腿上,以掩饰其颤抖。 来自《简明英汉词典》
134 benignly a1839cef72990a695d769f9b3d61ae60     
adv.仁慈地,亲切地
参考例句:
  • Everyone has to benignly help people in distress. 每一个人应让该亲切地帮助有困难的人。 来自互联网
  • This drug is benignly soporific. 这种药物具有良好的催眠效果。 来自互联网
135 blotches 8774b940cca40b77d41e782c6a462e49     
n.(皮肤上的)红斑,疹块( blotch的名词复数 );大滴 [大片](墨水或颜色的)污渍
参考例句:
  • His skin was covered with unsightly blotches. 他的皮肤上长满了难看的疹块。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • His face was covered in red blotches, seemingly a nasty case of acne. 他满脸红斑,像是起了很严重的粉刺。 来自辞典例句
136 optimists 2a4469dbbf5de82b5ffedfb264dd62c4     
n.乐观主义者( optimist的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Even optimists admit the outlook to be poor. 甚至乐观的人都认为前景不好。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Optimists reckon house prices will move up with inflation this year. 乐观人士认为今年的房价将会随通货膨胀而上涨。 来自辞典例句
137 ancestry BNvzf     
n.祖先,家世
参考例句:
  • Their ancestry settled the land in 1856.他们的祖辈1856年在这块土地上定居下来。
  • He is an American of French ancestry.他是法国血统的美国人。
138 peculiar cinyo     
adj.古怪的,异常的;特殊的,特有的
参考例句:
  • He walks in a peculiar fashion.他走路的样子很奇特。
  • He looked at me with a very peculiar expression.他用一种很奇怪的表情看着我。
139 stagnant iGgzj     
adj.不流动的,停滞的,不景气的
参考例句:
  • Due to low investment,industrial output has remained stagnant.由于投资少,工业生产一直停滞不前。
  • Their national economy is stagnant.他们的国家经济停滞不前。
140 shuffling 03b785186d0322e5a1a31c105fc534ee     
adj. 慢慢移动的, 滑移的 动词shuffle的现在分词形式
参考例句:
  • Don't go shuffling along as if you were dead. 别像个死人似地拖着脚走。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
  • Some one was shuffling by on the sidewalk. 外面的人行道上有人拖着脚走过。 来自英汉文学 - 嘉莉妹妹
141 embarrassment fj9z8     
n.尴尬;使人为难的人(事物);障碍;窘迫
参考例句:
  • She could have died away with embarrassment.她窘迫得要死。
  • Coughing at a concert can be a real embarrassment.在音乐会上咳嗽真会使人难堪。
142 rigid jDPyf     
adj.严格的,死板的;刚硬的,僵硬的
参考例句:
  • She became as rigid as adamant.她变得如顽石般的固执。
  • The examination was so rigid that nearly all aspirants were ruled out.考试很严,几乎所有的考生都被淘汰了。
143 edgy FuMzWT     
adj.不安的;易怒的
参考例句:
  • She's been a bit edgy lately,waiting for the exam results.她正在等待考试结果,所以最近有些焦躁不安。
  • He was nervous and edgy, still chain-smoking.他紧张不安,还在一根接一根地抽着烟。
144 banter muwzE     
n.嘲弄,戏谑;v.取笑,逗弄,开玩笑
参考例句:
  • The actress exchanged banter with reporters.女演员与记者相互开玩笑。
  • She engages in friendly banter with her customers.她常和顾客逗乐。
145 inaccurate D9qx7     
adj.错误的,不正确的,不准确的
参考例句:
  • The book is both inaccurate and exaggerated.这本书不但不准确,而且夸大其词。
  • She never knows the right time because her watch is inaccurate.她从来不知道准确的时间因为她的表不准。
146 judiciously 18cfc8ca2569d10664611011ec143a63     
adv.明断地,明智而审慎地
参考例句:
  • Let's use these intelligence tests judiciously. 让我们好好利用这些智力测试题吧。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • His ideas were quaint and fantastic. She brought him judiciously to earth. 他的看法荒廖古怪,她颇有见识地劝他面对现实。 来自辞典例句
147 feverish gzsye     
adj.发烧的,狂热的,兴奋的
参考例句:
  • He is too feverish to rest.他兴奋得安静不下来。
  • They worked with feverish haste to finish the job.为了完成此事他们以狂热的速度工作着。
148 quirk 00KzV     
n.奇事,巧合;古怪的举动
参考例句:
  • He had a strange quirk of addressing his wife as Mrs Smith.他很怪,把自己的妻子称作史密斯夫人。
  • The most annoying quirk of his is wearing a cap all the time.他最令人感到厌恶的怪癖就是无论何时都戴著帽子。
149 dictates d2524bb575c815758f62583cd796af09     
n.命令,规定,要求( dictate的名词复数 )v.大声讲或读( dictate的第三人称单数 );口授;支配;摆布
参考例句:
  • Convention dictates that a minister should resign in such a situation. 依照常规部长在这种情况下应该辞职。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He always follows the dictates of common sense. 他总是按常识行事。 来自《简明英汉词典》
150 poetic b2PzT     
adj.富有诗意的,有诗人气质的,善于抒情的
参考例句:
  • His poetic idiom is stamped with expressions describing group feeling and thought.他的诗中的措辞往往带有描写群体感情和思想的印记。
  • His poetic novels have gone through three different historical stages.他的诗情小说创作经历了三个不同的历史阶段。
151 loathed dbdbbc9cf5c853a4f358a2cd10c12ff2     
v.憎恨,厌恶( loathe的过去式和过去分词 );极不喜欢
参考例句:
  • Baker loathed going to this red-haired young pup for supplies. 面包师傅不喜欢去这个红头发的自负的傻小子那里拿原料。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Therefore, above all things else, he loathed his miserable self! 因此,他厌恶不幸的自我尤胜其它! 来自英汉文学 - 红字
152 toadies 5b230497c5f4abfd9ef29868ad55d9af     
n.谄媚者,马屁精( toady的名词复数 )v.拍马,谄媚( toady的第三人称单数 )
参考例句:
  • The toadies were gone, for the outgoing president had nothing to give. 哈巴狗都走了,因为即将离任的总统再没有东西可给他们了。 来自辞典例句
  • The toadies were gone, for the outgoing president had nothing to give them. 哈巴狗都走了,因为即将离任的总统再没有东西可给他们了。 来自辞典例句
153 swooping ce659162690c6d11fdc004b1fd814473     
俯冲,猛冲( swoop的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The wind were swooping down to tease the waves. 大风猛扑到海面上戏弄着浪涛。
  • And she was talking so well-swooping with swift wing this way and that. 而她却是那样健谈--一下子谈到东,一下子谈到西。
154 skier skier     
n.滑雪运动员
参考例句:
  • She is a skier who is unafraid of danger.她是一名敢于冒险的滑雪者。
  • The skier skimmed across the snow.滑雪者飞快地滑过雪地。
155 toads 848d4ebf1875eac88fe0765c59ce57d1     
n.蟾蜍,癞蛤蟆( toad的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • All toads blink when they swallow. 所有的癞蛤蟆吞食东西时都会眨眼皮。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Toads have shorter legs and are generally more clumsy than frogs. 蟾蜍比青蛙脚短,一般说来没有青蛙灵活。 来自辞典例句
156 conjuring IYdyC     
n.魔术
参考例句:
  • Paul's very good at conjuring. 保罗很会变戏法。
  • The entertainer didn't fool us with his conjuring. 那个艺人变的戏法没有骗到我们。
157 agrarian qKayI     
adj.土地的,农村的,农业的
参考例句:
  • People are leaving an agrarian way of life to go to the city.人们正在放弃农业生活方式而转向城市。
  • This was a feature of agrarian development in Britain.这是大不列颠土地所有制发展的一个特征。
158 spoke XryyC     
n.(车轮的)辐条;轮辐;破坏某人的计划;阻挠某人的行动 v.讲,谈(speak的过去式);说;演说;从某种观点来说
参考例句:
  • They sourced the spoke nuts from our company.他们的轮辐螺帽是从我们公司获得的。
  • The spokes of a wheel are the bars that connect the outer ring to the centre.辐条是轮子上连接外圈与中心的条棒。
159 standing 2hCzgo     
n.持续,地位;adj.永久的,不动的,直立的,不流动的
参考例句:
  • After the earthquake only a few houses were left standing.地震过后只有几幢房屋还立着。
  • They're standing out against any change in the law.他们坚决反对对法律做任何修改。
160 pointed Il8zB4     
adj.尖的,直截了当的
参考例句:
  • He gave me a very sharp pointed pencil.他给我一支削得非常尖的铅笔。
  • She wished to show Mrs.John Dashwood by this pointed invitation to her brother.她想通过对达茨伍德夫人提出直截了当的邀请向她的哥哥表示出来。
161 rumours ba6e2decd2e28dec9a80f28cb99e131d     
n.传闻( rumour的名词复数 );风闻;谣言;谣传
参考例句:
  • The rumours were completely baseless. 那些谣传毫无根据。
  • Rumours of job losses were later confirmed. 裁员的传言后来得到了证实。
162 blotchy blotchy     
adj.有斑点的,有污渍的;斑污
参考例句:
  • her blotchy and swollen face 她的布满斑点的浮肿的脸
  • Blotchy skin is a symptom of many skin diseases. 皮肤上出现污斑是许多皮肤病的症状。 来自互联网
163 faculty HhkzK     
n.才能;学院,系;(学院或系的)全体教学人员
参考例句:
  • He has a great faculty for learning foreign languages.他有学习外语的天赋。
  • He has the faculty of saying the right thing at the right time.他有在恰当的时候说恰当的话的才智。
164 killers c1a8ff788475e2c3424ec8d3f91dd856     
凶手( killer的名词复数 ); 消灭…者; 致命物; 极难的事
参考例句:
  • He remained steadfast in his determination to bring the killers to justice. 他要将杀人凶手绳之以法的决心一直没有动摇。
  • They were professional killers who did in John. 杀死约翰的这些人是职业杀手。
165 socket jw9wm     
n.窝,穴,孔,插座,插口
参考例句:
  • He put the electric plug into the socket.他把电插头插入插座。
  • The battery charger plugs into any mains socket.这个电池充电器可以插入任何类型的电源插座。
166 lieutenant X3GyG     
n.陆军中尉,海军上尉;代理官员,副职官员
参考例句:
  • He was promoted to be a lieutenant in the army.他被提升为陆军中尉。
  • He prevailed on the lieutenant to send in a short note.他说动那个副官,递上了一张简短的便条进去。
167 swollen DrcwL     
adj.肿大的,水涨的;v.使变大,肿胀
参考例句:
  • Her legs had got swollen from standing up all day.因为整天站着,她的双腿已经肿了。
  • A mosquito had bitten her and her arm had swollen up.蚊子叮了她,她的手臂肿起来了。
168 perversely 8be945d3748a381de483d070ad2ad78a     
adv. 倔强地
参考例句:
  • Intelligence in the mode of passion is always perversely. 受激情属性控制的智力,总是逆着活动的正确方向行事。
  • She continue, perversely, to wear shoes that damaged her feet. 她偏偏穿那双挤脚的鞋。
169 survivor hrIw8     
n.生存者,残存者,幸存者
参考例句:
  • The sole survivor of the crash was an infant.这次撞车的惟一幸存者是一个婴儿。
  • There was only one survivor of the plane crash.这次飞机失事中只有一名幸存者。
170 thriller RIhzU     
n.惊险片,恐怖片
参考例句:
  • He began by writing a thriller.That book sold a million copies.他是写惊险小说起家的。那本书卖了一百万册。
  • I always take a thriller to read on the train.我乘火车时,总带一本惊险小说看。
171 deserted GukzoL     
adj.荒芜的,荒废的,无人的,被遗弃的
参考例句:
  • The deserted village was filled with a deathly silence.这个荒废的村庄死一般的寂静。
  • The enemy chieftain was opposed and deserted by his followers.敌人头目众叛亲离。
172 insomniac lbozL     
n.失眠症患者
参考例句:
  • She's an insomniac ; she only sleeps for two or three hours a night. 她患失眠症,每晚只睡两三个小时。 来自辞典例句
  • The insomniac is habitually afflicted with wakefulness at times when he wishes to sleep. 失眠症患者,这种病人在他想睡觉时经常特别清醒。 来自互联网
173 dignified NuZzfb     
a.可敬的,高贵的
参考例句:
  • Throughout his trial he maintained a dignified silence. 在整个审讯过程中,他始终沉默以保持尊严。
  • He always strikes such a dignified pose before his girlfriend. 他总是在女友面前摆出这种庄严的姿态。
174 perimeter vSxzj     
n.周边,周长,周界
参考例句:
  • The river marks the eastern perimeter of our land.这条河标示我们的土地东面的边界。
  • Drinks in hands,they wandered around the perimeter of the ball field.他们手里拿着饮料在球场周围漫不经心地遛跶。
175 pedestrians c0776045ca3ae35c6910db3f53d111db     
n.步行者( pedestrian的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • Several pedestrians had come to grief on the icy pavement. 几个行人在结冰的人行道上滑倒了。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • Pedestrians keep to the sidewalk [footpath]! 行人走便道。 来自《现代汉英综合大词典》
176 shafts 8a8cb796b94a20edda1c592a21399c6b     
n.轴( shaft的名词复数 );(箭、高尔夫球棒等的)杆;通风井;一阵(疼痛、害怕等)
参考例句:
  • He deliberately jerked the shafts to rock him a bit. 他故意的上下颠动车把,摇这个老猴子几下。 来自汉英文学 - 骆驼祥子
  • Shafts were sunk, with tunnels dug laterally. 竖井已经打下,并且挖有横向矿道。 来自辞典例句
177 dwindling f139f57690cdca2d2214f172b39dc0b9     
adj.逐渐减少的v.逐渐变少或变小( dwindle的现在分词 )
参考例句:
  • The number of wild animals on the earth is dwindling. 地球上野生动物的数量正日渐减少。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He is struggling to come to terms with his dwindling authority. 他正努力适应自己权力被削弱这一局面。 来自辞典例句
178 squatted 45deb990f8c5186c854d710c535327b0     
v.像动物一样蹲下( squat的过去式和过去分词 );非法擅自占用(土地或房屋);为获得其所有权;而占用某片公共用地。
参考例句:
  • He squatted down beside the footprints and examined them closely. 他蹲在脚印旁仔细地观察。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • He squatted in the grass discussing with someone. 他蹲在草地上与一个人谈话。 来自《简明英汉词典》
179 plunged 06a599a54b33c9d941718dccc7739582     
v.颠簸( plunge的过去式和过去分词 );暴跌;骤降;突降
参考例句:
  • The train derailed and plunged into the river. 火车脱轨栽进了河里。
  • She lost her balance and plunged 100 feet to her death. 她没有站稳,从100英尺的高处跌下摔死了。
180 partially yL7xm     
adv.部分地,从某些方面讲
参考例句:
  • The door was partially concealed by the drapes.门有一部分被门帘遮住了。
  • The police managed to restore calm and the curfew was partially lifted.警方设法恢复了平静,宵禁部分解除。
181 concealed 0v3zxG     
a.隐藏的,隐蔽的
参考例句:
  • The paintings were concealed beneath a thick layer of plaster. 那些画被隐藏在厚厚的灰泥层下面。
  • I think he had a gun concealed about his person. 我认为他当时身上藏有一支枪。
182 trolley YUjzG     
n.手推车,台车;无轨电车;有轨电车
参考例句:
  • The waiter had brought the sweet trolley.侍者已经推来了甜食推车。
  • In a library,books are moved on a trolley.在图书馆,书籍是放在台车上搬动的。
183 advertising 1zjzi3     
n.广告业;广告活动 a.广告的;广告业务的
参考例句:
  • Can you give me any advice on getting into advertising? 你能指点我如何涉足广告业吗?
  • The advertising campaign is aimed primarily at young people. 这个广告宣传运动主要是针对年轻人的。
184 herds 0a162615f6eafc3312659a54a8cdac0f     
兽群( herd的名词复数 ); 牧群; 人群; 群众
参考例句:
  • Regularly at daybreak they drive their herds to the pasture. 每天天一亮他们就把牲畜赶到草场上去。
  • There we saw herds of cows grazing on the pasture. 我们在那里看到一群群的牛在草地上吃草。
185 slaughter 8Tpz1     
n.屠杀,屠宰;vt.屠杀,宰杀
参考例句:
  • I couldn't stand to watch them slaughter the cattle.我不忍看他们宰牛。
  • Wholesale slaughter was carried out in the name of progress.大规模的屠杀在维护进步的名义下进行。
186 vanquished 3ee1261b79910819d117f8022636243f     
v.征服( vanquish的过去式和过去分词 );战胜;克服;抑制
参考例句:
  • She had fought many battles, vanquished many foes. 她身经百战,挫败过很多对手。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I vanquished her coldness with my assiduity. 我对她关心照顾从而消除了她的冷淡。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
187 liberated YpRzMi     
a.无拘束的,放纵的
参考例句:
  • The city was liberated by the advancing army. 军队向前挺进,解放了那座城市。
  • The heat brings about a chemical reaction, and oxygen is liberated. 热量引起化学反应,释放出氧气。
188 graceful deHza     
adj.优美的,优雅的;得体的
参考例句:
  • His movements on the parallel bars were very graceful.他的双杠动作可帅了!
  • The ballet dancer is so graceful.芭蕾舞演员的姿态是如此的优美。
189 samosas 09bc1679a72ab8f14ed74bf077f46d15     
n.萨莫萨三角饺( samosa的名词复数 )
参考例句:
  • The food will be samosas, chicken curry and rice, and naan bread. 食品将是五香三角菜饺,咖喱鸡肉饭和印度飞饼。 来自互联网
  • A: How about some vegetable samosas to start and today's special chicken curry? 甲:那么先尝一尝蔬菜炸馅角然后再试‘日精选-咖哩鸡’好不好? 来自互联网
190 gambling ch4xH     
n.赌博;投机
参考例句:
  • They have won a lot of money through gambling.他们赌博赢了很多钱。
  • The men have been gambling away all night.那些人赌了整整一夜。
191 distended 86751ec15efd4512b97d34ce479b1fa7     
v.(使)膨胀,肿胀( distend的过去式和过去分词 )
参考例句:
  • starving children with huge distended bellies 鼓着浮肿肚子的挨饿儿童
  • The balloon was distended. 气球已膨胀。 来自《现代英汉综合大词典》
192 shriek fEgya     
v./n.尖叫,叫喊
参考例句:
  • Suddenly he began to shriek loudly.突然他开始大声尖叫起来。
  • People sometimes shriek because of terror,anger,or pain.人们有时会因为恐惧,气愤或疼痛而尖叫。
193 hooting f69e3a288345bbea0b49ddc2fbe5fdc6     
(使)作汽笛声响,作汽车喇叭声( hoot的现在分词 ); 倒好儿; 倒彩
参考例句:
  • He had the audience hooting with laughter . 他令观众哄堂大笑。
  • The owl was hooting. 猫头鹰在叫。
194 unison gKCzB     
n.步调一致,行动一致
参考例句:
  • The governments acted in unison to combat terrorism.这些国家的政府一致行动对付恐怖主义。
  • My feelings are in unison with yours.我的感情与你的感情是一致的。
195 noted 5n4zXc     
adj.著名的,知名的
参考例句:
  • The local hotel is noted for its good table.当地的那家酒店以餐食精美而著称。
  • Jim is noted for arriving late for work.吉姆上班迟到出了名。
196 shreds 0288daa27f5fcbe882c0eaedf23db832     
v.撕碎,切碎( shred的第三人称单数 );用撕毁机撕毁(文件)
参考例句:
  • Peel the carrots and cut them into shreds. 将胡罗卜削皮,切成丝。 来自《简明英汉词典》
  • I want to take this diary and rip it into shreds. 我真想一赌气扯了这日记。 来自汉英文学 - 中国现代小说
197 hissed 2299e1729bbc7f56fc2559e409d6e8a7     
发嘶嘶声( hiss的过去式和过去分词 ); 发嘘声表示反对
参考例句:
  • Have you ever been hissed at in the middle of a speech? 你在演讲中有没有被嘘过?
  • The iron hissed as it pressed the wet cloth. 熨斗压在湿布上时发出了嘶嘶声。


欢迎访问英文小说网

©英文小说网 2005-2010

有任何问题,请给我们留言,管理员邮箱:[email protected]  站长QQ :点击发送消息和我们联系56065533